153 
THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
Do not mix up the trees in planting, but group them— 
beeches here, oaks there, and so on. The most favorable 
places, as regards shelter and soil, should be assigned to 
the new, rare and choice trees. Pendulous trees, as the 
birch, beech and oak, are graceful and beautiful, but a 
multiplicity of such formal types as the weeping Kilmar¬ 
nock willow, sophora, elm, mountain ash, Japanese cherry, 
ash, and the trailing dwarf cherry “ worked ” on tall naked 
stems, should be avoided. Columnar or fastigiate forms, 
as the Irish juniper, Irish yew, fastigiate oak, should also 
be used only in limited numbers. The weeping forms of 
the silver fir and - Norway spruce, among evergreens, 
when “ worked ” low and trimmed to grow upward, and 
lap after lap of branches droop over each other, as in the 
case of the weeping beech, are graceful and beautiful. 
Shrubs of all beautiful kinds may be used, but rank¬ 
growing sorts like the mock oranges and lilacs should not 
be planted in small lots. In large cemeteries, masses of 
shrubs are planted here and there in clumps and belts for 
gardenesque effect, used as a support to shelter-belts, or 
a fringe to groves and wooden knolls. In rural church¬ 
yards, however, the shrubs are used mostly by the indi¬ 
vidual lot-owners in their lots. If they are prepared to 
give strict attention to their plants they may use almost 
anything that is hardy; if not, they had better confine 
themselves to what will get along fairly well with but 
little attention. In the event of a sheltered lot and good 
soil, I should advise evergreens; in the case of an ex¬ 
posed situation, deciduous shrubs only. Best among 
evergreens are Retinospora obtusa, weeping Norway 
spruce, weeping silver fir (of type before mentioned), 
golden yew, Japanese juniper, Taxus cicspidata , the finer 
arbor vitaes, as Golden, Siberian. George Peabody, Ver- 
vaene’s, pendulous and Hovey’s, the broad-leafed hemlock 
spruce kept in bush form, Japanese hemlock, Lawson cy¬ 
press (South of New York), the glaucous variety of red 
cedar (kept low by annual trimming), dwarf Corsican, 
Mugho, Masson’s dwarf Scotch, Swiss stone, and Daw¬ 
son’s dwarf white pine ; umbrella pine (but medium-sized 
plants are very expensive), Rhododendro 7 i everestianum. 
Japanese euonymus, and Yucca filamentosa. Many love¬ 
ly evergreens, as Nordman’s, Pinsapo, and Cephalonian 
silver firs, may with care be kept in handsome form, and 
no larger than a bush, for twenty-five or thirty years. 
“ Among deciduous shrubs for lots avoid all having 
variegated leaves, as the kerria, Japanese diervilla and 
althaea; those with insignificant or inconspicuous flowers, 
as the barberry, amorpha and sea buckthorn ; berried 
bushes like the Indian currant, tartarian honeysuckles 
and snowberry, or coarse growing shrubs like the elder, 
buckthorn and ninebark. Use the most beautiful among 
spiraeas, and snowballs, deutzias, double-flowering al¬ 
monds, Xanthoceras sorbifolia, Chinese tamarix, golden 
bell, daphne and the like. 
“ Among vines use periwinkle (myrtle), to form belts 
or mats; Irish ivy in somewhat shady places to cling to 
stone or wood ; Euonymus radicans (evergreen), three to 
six feet high, to grow against the stones or trees; the 
climbing hydrangea to attach itself to rough surfaces, as 
the trunks of trees ; the Japanese ivy ( Ampelopsis tri- 
cuspi'data), to clothe stone walls or other surfaces with 
the densest leafy covering of green in summer and crim¬ 
son in fall, clematises, Virginian creeper, wistaria and the 
like, festooning trees or draping walls, are known to all 
of us. 
“ For hardy flowers plant crocuses, snowdrops, Sibe¬ 
rian squills and daffodils among the grass; get a clump 
of the single-flowering, fragrant violet and lily-of-the- 
valley, and let them both run wild together. Clumps of 
Florentine iris, white lilies and white plantain lilies are 
appropriate and pretty, but the last named must have 
shade. In the open sunny places have stonecrop, peren¬ 
nial pinks ( Dianthus plumarius'), cassias and the like, 
moss pink ( Phlox subulaia), rock cress (Arabis albidd), 
and others of evergreen mat-forming nature. These will 
take care of themselves. From among our garden plants 
many may be chosen, but I should dislike to see used tall 
phloxes, larkspurs or hollyhocks, gaudy Oriental poppies 
or other coarse-growing subjects. Select plants that are 
neat, hardy, and last a good while in freshness and beauty. 
“We usually crowd into our grave lots most everything 
in the way of a greenhouse or window plant we possess. 
Geraniums love the light; fuchsias and begonias prefer 
a little shade, and so on. It is more a question of situa¬ 
tion than variety. While with drummond phlox, migno¬ 
nette, sweet alyssum and petunias we may make a showy 
mass, we should guard against confusion and coarseness. 
Zinnias, French marigolds, annual chrysanthemums and 
the like, though shov)y, are very rank and coarse. 
“ In pretentious cemeteries a special effort is made in 
flower-garden display. Some plats are specially reserved 
for flower gardening alone, and the beds and borders are 
planted in the most elaborate style. Some people object 
to these gay gardens in cemeteries, but I do not. The 
public demands them and the public shall have them. 
Spring Grove Cemetery may be possible in every city, but 
it is not at all probable; were it so, I should favor it. It 
was my dear lamented friend, the late Adolphe Strausch, 
who made and kept Spring Grove what it is ; but there 
is not a Strausch in every city. But, considering the spa¬ 
cious dimensions, the hills and dales, the woods and wa¬ 
ter and the resources in the way of plants, help and the 
like, of our large cemeteries, I should certainly advise a 
modification of the present system of garniture. We 
want charming landscape effects, intelligent grouping of 
trees, shrubs and lesser plants, the colonization of our 
showiest hardy plants where they shall seem happy and 
at home, and appear to the best advantage. We want 
variety, and at the same time harmony—something fresh 
at every step and without recurrence—a pleasant bit of 
color here and there, without that perpetual dotting on 
every hand, so objectionable to good taste. We want to 
make the wildest places the most enchanting, and yet not 
rob them of their wildness. We want the mill hand and 
the foundry worker to pause in admiration before a cedar 
draped with blue wistaria and carpeted about with star- 
flowers, trilliums, spring beauty and poets’ narcissus, or 
other combinations equally beautiful and practical. We 
have hundreds upon hundreds of lovely plants, native 
and exotic, that will contribute nobly, sweetly, appropri¬ 
ately to the embellishment of our cemeteries, if the gera¬ 
nium gardener will deign to recognize them.” 
